West Midlands has recently been recognised by the European Commission as a Regional Innovation Valley. This label is the recognition of the region’s commitment to innovation and our intentions to collaborate with other regions around innovation. Furthermore, it confirms that our regional priorities are aligned with the European innovation priorities.
Regional Innovation Valleys (RIV) were first mentioned in the New European Innovation Agenda, published by the European Commission in 2022. RIVs are connected, place-based innovation ecosystems which aim to foster interregional investment into deep-tech innovation. RIVs are places where strategy, finance and ecosystems are aligned and where technology-enabled innovations are fostered to address grand societal challenges, such as route-to-zero, circularity, health, food security and digitalisation
Health, circularity and route-to-zero have been identified as our strength and key priorities along which we will primarily, but not exclusively, be able to collaborate with other regions, set up consortia or exchange knowledge.
Even though this title does not come with a direct financial award, it offers several opportunities to the West Midlands innovation stakeholders. We will be able to participate in community building activities alongside 150 other regions from Europe, that also obtained this recognition. We will be invited to matchmaking events to find like-minded partners for future funding applications and we will receive enhanced access on future opportunities.
The UK is now part of the European Commission’s main research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe. The West Midlands Combined Authority and Birmingham City Council in conjunction with the dedicated office in Brussels will assist regional stakeholders to gear up to collaborative research and innovation funding opportunities and forming sustainable partnerships across Europe and globally.
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